


you stay on my mind

by Kaynara



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: ? kind of, Canon Compliant, Implied Love Triangle, M/M, Praise Kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-30
Updated: 2017-11-30
Packaged: 2019-02-08 20:42:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12872616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaynara/pseuds/Kaynara
Summary: Mako has always paid far too much attention to Paisley Moon. That's probably a bad thing.





	you stay on my mind

**Author's Note:**

> set mostly pre-canon, but spoilers for the finale also.
> 
> when i decided i was going to be the first person to get a paisley/mako fic up on ao3 i didn't think it would take me three months and more than 4000 words, but here we are.

The first time Mako sees Paisley Moon, it is in the Rethal-Addax spaceport. Aria has a contact that can help with this smash ’n’ grab job they’re on, she says, and their group is still new and desperate enough that they can’t afford to be picky with who they get their information from yet.  
  
(Aria has been trying to get them to choose a name for their little band. She keeps trying to make it into a music reference, but hadn’t been happy with _any_ of Mako’s suggestions.)  
  
On this particular day, he pushes his way through the crowd, waving off a robot trying to hand him coupons for Constellation Café without looking at them. He strolls around the corner to see Aria deep in conversation with a figure about her height. She laughs at something her companion says in a way that is almost unnervingly photogenic, still practiced and camera-ready from her Joypark training. As she does, she shifts enough for Mako to catch a glimpse of light brown skin, a wicked smirk, and unexpectedly piercing blue eyes.  
  
Aria’s still leaning in just a little too close to the handsome stranger for his liking. Fuck, he hopes they’re not together.  
  
“Hey Aria, this your boyfriend?” His voice is casual as ever as he inserts himself neatly between the two, looking up a couple of inches to the guy’s face. Up close, he’s actually devastatingly handsome in a way that’s kind of intimidating.  
  
Aria giggles behind him, but the sound is strained.  
  
“No, Mako, don’t be dumb—”  
  
The denial is far too quick. History between them then, at least, which isn’t his problem. He ignores her, sticks his hand out to Hot Guy.  
  
“Mako Trig, hacker extraordinaire. Nice to meetcha.”  
  
Hot Guy looks him up and down, eyebrow raised as he takes in the mirror effect jacket, the oversized sunglasses, the bluish skin that just crosses the line to ‘unnatural’.  
  
Aria tries to interrupt, again. “Mako, this is—”  
  
“Paisley Moon.” The guy leans in slightly, half smiles, and takes Mako’s hand to squeeze it firmly. “I make things happen for whoever needs me the most.”  
  
The smart-alec response is as natural as breathing at this point.  
  
“Needs you the most, or pays you the most?” He gets an amused quirk of the mouth in response.  
  
“I tend to find that whoever needs me the most always makes it a point to ensure I am well compensated for my efforts.”  
  
Mako’s still holding onto Paisley’s hand, which he only realises when Paisley looks pointedly down and back up at him. He lets go with a cheery, “Sorry, man!” and doesn’t blush, because that would ruin the cool guy aesthetic he’s got going on.  
  
There’s a nostalgic ache as he thinks of the last time he blushed ( _Tower, handing him something, hands brushing slightly too long_ ) but he ignores it and focuses up on this new face that makes his stomach clench in a completely different way. Aria coughs behind him, and Mako reluctantly moves back so she can at least feel like she’s part of the conversation again as it turns back to business.  
  


* * *

  
The mission succeeds, just about, after a chase through a docking bay involving four hacked mechs and a thankfully incompetent security team.  
  
Aria decides on ‘the Chime’ while being seen to in the medical lab afterwards. Cass rolls their eyes as they’re bandaging her arm, eyes focused and tight with stress. AuDy informs them all that they are terrible criminals.  
  
Mako makes sure to keep in contact with Paisley.  
  


* * *

  
They have drinks together, sometimes, usually when Mako tags along with Aria despite her feeble protests. Paisley’s a semi-permanent fixture in the Chime’s network of contacts, only occasionally disappearing for weeks at a time before showing back up at the Kingdom Come with no explanations and a hot tip.  
  
Mako might have a bit of a crush.  
  
He’s not sure if Aria is ignoring it or if she’s just oblivious. He knows he isn’t being subtle, because Cass cornered him one day to tell him that if he screwed up their professional relationship with Paisley, they would personally kick him off the ship.  
  
He didn’t think they’d meant it, though, because a second later their brow softened, and they’d sighed at him in a way that he was pretty sure, at this point, conveyed fondness and not actual irritation.  
  
In contrast, AuDy told him very directly that Paisley was a terrible choice of romantic partner, and that he’d instead be well advised to focus his energy on making better aliases for their future jobs.  
  
(Drillbot Mailer was a new persona he was trying out, but something was off about it. He’d figure it out eventually.)  
  
It’s all ridiculous, anyway. Sure, Mako thinks Paisley’s hot as hell, and he’d love to get a piece of that someday, but he’s not looking for anything serious. _Romantic partner?_ No way.  
  


* * *

   
“Hey Paisley, whatcha doing?” Mako calls out as he walks into what Paisley seems to think is a suitable office, but is really just an incredibly boring room that he rents near the Spaceport. He's made a habit of trying to hang around on his off time, if Paisley lets him, which isn't often, frankly. It's worth it, though, whenever Mako tells a dumb joke and Paisley looks at him and does _that_ particular smirk that makes his heart jump.

As he approaches, he sees Paisley’s head stiffen for a moment where he’s bent over a table. He recovers almost instantly, but Mako is always paying far too much attention to him.  
  
“Mako…always good to see you.” One smooth movement has him turning to face Mako as his left hand goes quickly behind his back. He turns that smile on, and fuck, if he still isn’t the best looking guy in the dome, even looking as tired as he currently does.  
  
Mako’s good at being persistent, though.  
  
“Yeah, yeah, great to see you too, Paisley. What’re you hiding back there?”  
  
“It’s for a client.”

“Can I see? Is it dangerous? Does it need hacking?”  
  
“No to all three.”  
  
Mako tries to sidestep Paisley and get a better view.  
  
“You never know when something might need an expert opinion, Paisley…”  
  
Apparently ‘light and teasing’ isn’t the right tone to take here, because Paisley steps forward, crowding and forcing him backwards, away from the table.  
  
“What did you come here for, Mako?”  
  
“Just came to see what you were up to, man, isn’t that what friends are for?” His mouth is moving but he’s barely paying attention to what he’s saying. Half his focus is on trying to crane his neck over Paisley’s shoulder to look at the table, half on trying not to stumble as he backs up, realising just how _close_ Paisley has gotten to him.  
  
“Aria’s told me that you act up for attention.”  
  
Mako scowls petulantly at the mention of Aria and he opens his mouth to make a sarcastic retort, but Paisley waves his hand to stop the inevitable protest, eyes intense. He closes it again, glaring a bit, and then his back hits the wall and his mouth goes slightly dry.  
  
“Is that what this is, Mako? You want some attention?”  
  
His heart rate picks up, he can _feel_ it, hammering away in his chest suddenly.  
  
“Hey, you know me, I always want some attention.” Mako manages to flash his trademark irreverent grin and Paisley smirks back, head tilting to the side to watch him in a way that makes Mako’s cheeks heat.  
  
Mako wants to keep talking, to ignore the tension, but Paisley puts a hand to his cheek, gentler than he expects, and leans in.  
  
And then, well, he’s kind of busy being kissed.  
  
Paisley’s hands run down his sides to his hips, and he hears himself gasp when they slip under his shirt, fingers dancing over his skin. Mako’s too warm, suddenly, as Paisley nips gently at his bottom lip, liquid heat running up his spine as he whines into it.  
  
Kissing Paisley gives Mako the distinct feeling of dancing with someone far more skilled than he is. It’s exhilarating, and overwhelming, and he’s more than happy to go along for the ride.  
  
Mako manages to grab onto Paisley’s upper arms, and he feels Paisley grin against his mouth, pull back slightly to look at him.  
  
“Is this what you wanted?”  
  
Mako nods, slightly frantic, already pushing back up to try and kiss Paisley again.

Paisley chuckles and brushes his lips in a few barely-there kisses. Mako groans.

“C'mon, man, don't be a dick about it.”

"Patience, Mako,” teases Paisley, pressing him further into the wall. The mesh illusion of bland wallpaper flickers and bends out of the corner of his eye as he feels rough concrete dig into his back slightly. Cheap work. He has a wild idea for a moment of offering to fix it for Paisley, installing some extra sense modules maybe. The thought's quickly gone, his mind blanking as Paisley moves to his neck, peppering kisses and bites below his jaw. Mako whines slightly, embarrassed somewhere in the back of his mind because he's almost completely hard already.

Then there's a thigh between his legs and Mako moans, hands scrabbling to grab onto Paisley's waist as he rubs against him.

Paisley draws back from him for a second and forces him to meet his gaze.

“Is this okay?”

“ _Absolutely_ , yes, don't you dare stop,” Mako replies, dazed but appreciative, already trying to pull Paisley back closer to him. Paisley huffs out a half laugh and leans back in, dragging teeth across Mako's collarbone as he fumbles with their pants and then wraps a long-fingered hand around both of their cocks.  
  
Mako pulls Paisley's head back up, diving into another kiss, nipping gently with his teeth to feel Paisley jerk and gasp into his mouth and feel a rush of pride that _he did that._  
  
There’s the chime of a communicator from somewhere behind them and Paisley tenses for a half second, his head moving away like he’s thinking about going to check it.  
  
“Don’t you fucking dare, Paisley, I’ll— fuck, _fuck_ —”  
  
Paisley twists his hand around them and chuckles again, slightly breathlessly, as Mako’s words dissolve back into moans.  
  
“Don’t worry, Mako. I’m here.”  
  
Mako whimpers slightly at the words and spills over Paisley's hand, shaking. A few seconds later and he's already moving, jittery, knocking Paisley's hand away and taking a hold of his cock in return, relishing the sight of Paisley tipping his head back and coming with a gasp, prettier than ever.  
  


* * *

  
It happens a couple more times, secretive, deniable.  
  
He wants to hold it over Aria’s head, at first, to gloat that Paisley has chosen _him_ now, and not galaxy-wide musical superstar Aria Joie.  
  
Then Mako realises he wouldn’t know if Paisley was still sleeping with Aria - after all, he’s not under any illusions that this is some kind of _relationship_. And a little after that, he realises somewhere along the way he’s started counting Aria as a friend instead of just a co-worker, and that he doesn’t want to hurt her by throwing around the fact that he’s (occasionally) sleeping with her (possibly) ex.  
  
He starts feeling guilty about it instead.  
  


* * *

  
Loud music drifts from the kitchen of the Kingdom Come. There’s only one person it could be, because Cass listens to their music through the most beat-up, ‘vintage’ pair of headphones Mako has ever seen, and AuDy doesn’t seem to see the point.  
  
And of course, Aria used to do this for a living for millions of people every other night. Some habits are hard to shake.  
  
Following the flashy pop beats around the corner, he’s greeted by the sight of Aria dancing gleefully around the table, arms twisting in the air as she jumps around.  
  
“Mako! Come and dance with me!”  
  
Letting out a fake groan is easy, and it’s funny for half a second before her face falls.  
  
“No, no, I’ll dance! It was just a goof, Ar, jeez.”  
  
The only thing is, he’s never been the greatest dancer, and Aria doesn’t seem interested in leading him through the steps, instead doing some wild solo act that makes her hair spin around her. It’s fun though, and he feels the electronic chimes soak into his head as he waves his arms and does something complex with his feet that he remembers from dances at September. It’s the work of a moment to flick his fingers and send pulsating lights scattering through the mesh in time with the beats. He’s showing off a bit, sure, but it’s worth it for the way Aria giggles with delight.  
  
Five songs in and he’s had enough though, so Mako sits and watches Aria go for a couple more, applauding at the right moments and making the light show even more elaborate, pulling up an old concert of hers in his head while she dances to make it as accurate as he can. Eventually, she flops next to him and grins.  
  
“I haven’t done that in ages.”  
  
“Who’d’ve thought there’d be downsides to being an illegal smuggler?”  
  
She smacks him on the shoulder playfully.  
  
“Thanks for indulging me, asshole.”  
  
He remembers Paisley with a jolt and the warm feeling in his stomach fizzles out, replaced by curdling anxiety instead.  
  
“Hey, Aria—” Mako doesn’t get far before he cuts himself off, frustrated.  
  
It’s enough to make her sit up and look at him inquisitively anyway.  
  
“Are you still…are you seeing anyone right now?” he finishes weakly, unable to say the name he actually wants to.  
  
“Of course not! We’re criminals, you know. There’s no time for…for _relationships_ or anything!”

There’s still something about the way Aria says _criminals_ , like it’s all just a game that they’re playing.  
  
Mako laughs anyway, because she expects him to, but it’s hollow.  
  


* * *

  
Her reassurances and her friendship don’t help with the jealousy that crawls up his throat whenever he sees Paisley run his hand up Aria’s arm, or lean in close to laugh at a joke she’s made.  
  
He’s not sure if he feels better or worse when Paisley catches him staring and winks.  
  


* * *

  
The constant whine of ships taking off bleeds into Paisley’s office, oppressive and grating, never quite consistent or quiet enough to fade into background noise.  
  
Mako still hasn’t seen Paisley’s actual home. He’s pretty sure that’s on purpose.  
  
For once, Paisley’s invited him over though, instead of Mako showing up and needling Paisley until he gives in and pushes Mako onto the desk for a quick make-out session, or whatever it turns into. That’s progress, right?  
  
So there’s something hopeful fluttering in his chest, whispering, _maybe this is a date?_  
  
It dies quickly, though, when Paisley doesn’t even look up as Mako comes closer, just keeps flicking his hands through the mesh.  
  
Mako hovers for a second, uncertain, before painting a wide smile on his face and bouncing up to the desk.  
  
“Hey Paisley, you called?” Mako flutters his eyelashes ridiculously, but Paisley doesn’t even look up.  
  
“I’ll be with you in a second, Mako, I’m sorry,” he says, fingers darting through the air to pick through files that are probably confidential. He should really know better than to be accessing them while Mako’s here, but after a second Mako crushes the instinctive urge to pluck them out of the mesh for himself.  
  
Mako manages to keep himself occupied editing one of Aria’s old songs for about five minutes, before he’s tapping his fingers in an off-beat rhythm along Paisley’s fake-wood desk. A minute of that and he cracks, hacks into Paisley’s mesh network and saves all his files before closing them in a matter of seconds.  
  
The mesh files disintegrate into glowing pixels around Paisley’s hands and he looks up to meet Mako’s shit-eating grin with what looks like genuine anger, for once.  
  
“Those were _important_ —”  
  
“Chill out,” drawls Mako, drawing the words out far longer than necessary, even as he worries that he’s gone too far for once. “It’s all saved.”  
  
He saunters around the desk, neatly sidestepping the extra chair to instead drop himself in Paisley’s lap.  
  
“I just figured you needed to relax. That’s why I’m here, right?” Mako winks.  
  
For a second, Paisley looks torn.  
  
“God, Mako, I—”  
  
_Enough talking_ , Mako decides, and cuts him off with a kiss.  
  
It takes a moment for Paisley to kiss back, stiff and more mechanical than usual. Mako pulls back, blinking, to see Paisley’s expression is still distant.  
  
Mako grits his teeth, unable to stop the bitterness. “Who are you thinking about, man? Aria? You wishing you’d called her up instead?”  
  
That gets Paisley’s attention, his eyes darting back to meet Mako’s, his expression dark. Mako shivers a little at the intensity of his gaze.  
  
“No, Mako. Never.”  
  
Opening his mouth to reply doesn’t work as Paisley tugs him forward with his hands in Mako’s hair and kisses him hard.  
  
“You’re here and she’s not,” growls Paisley, as he pulls back to bite at Mako’s neck, his scruff scratching at the sensitive skin in a way that makes Mako’s head a little fuzzy, and he hears himself whine, pushing into the contact.  
  
They’re kissing for a few moments more, heated, Mako rocking on Paisley’s lap, and then Paisley’s got one hand around Mako’s cock, unexpectedly, and Mako digs his fingers into Paisley’s shoulders hard enough to leave bruises in response, panting.  
  
“You were so good on that last job, Mako.”  
  
Paisley’s words are soft, encouraging, and god, Mako’s eyes are wet suddenly as he clenches them tightly shut. He bites his lip in an effort to stop himself from begging for more, but he can’t stop the way his hips buck slightly into Paisley’s hand.  
  
Mako can feel Paisley smile where his lips are now brushing Mako’s ear.  
  
“I saw it all. They couldn’t do it without you, you know,” Paisley murmurs, tightening one hand in Mako’s hair and speeding up the motion of the other. Mako keens, breathless and desperate.  
  
“God, Paisley, more, _please_ —”  
  
He’s so close already.  
  
“I couldn’t do it without you either. So good, Mako, always so perfect for me.”  
  
He comes with a gasp that’s half a sob to Paisley still whispering praise in his ear, and he clings a little as he recovers, shuddering as Paisley strokes him through the aftershocks.  
  
“Let me— let me just—” Mako gasps, leaning his forehead on Paisley’s shoulder for a second, before he pushes Paisley’s hands away and drops to his knees on the floor in front of the chair, a curl of satisfaction cutting through the haze of orgasm when he hears Paisley inhale sharply in surprise.  
  
It only takes a few moments before he has Paisley’s pants down, only a second later till he has his cock in his mouth. Paisley groans, low, and brings his hands down to gently brush away the wetness on Mako’s cheeks with his thumbs, before he tangles his fingers in Mako’s hair again.  
  
The mesh retreats from his awareness, and he’s left, for once, with just the physical; the weight of a cock on his tongue, Paisley’s soft gasps of “yes, Mako, you’re doing so _well_ —”, the breathy noise Paisley makes just before he comes.  
  
It flickers back in, slowly, as Paisley hauls him up and back onto his lap, stroking his hair and face with what seem like practiced motions. Pixellated advertisements filter back into his vision, painting Paisley’s dark skin with the most artificial kind of saturated neon light.  
  
Mako leans his head on Paisley’s shoulder again and closes his eyes, and pretends for a moment more.  
  


* * *

  
Cass notices. Mako isn’t surprised, really. They seem the most desperate to keep the group together and functioning, which means they’re constantly hyper aware of the entire crew in case…He doesn’t know. In case one of them is on the verge of selling out to the authorities, maybe.  
  
It’s a little hurtful, that they still don’t fully trust the rest of them, but Mako guesses that they’ve been betrayed in the past. Apostolisians aren’t very welcome on Counterweight, and he imagines former royalty even less so.  
  
In any case, it leads to Cass knocking on his bedroom door one night while he’s lounging on his bed, scanning through the mesh and contemplating hacking the local Technocracy servers. Paisley had mentioned something offhandedly about needing access, and well, he hadn't asked Mako outright, but he wanted to be helpful.  
  
“Mako, we need to talk,” says Cass, their voice sounding way too serious for any conversation that Mako actually wanted to have.  
  
He sighs and thinks for a moment about yelling into a pillow rather than answering. Instead, he waves a hand to unlock the door, and Cass is inside immediately, like they suspect he’s going to change his mind.  
  
They’ve never been inside his room before, Mako realises, as they dart their eyes around quickly in a way that’s probably meant to be subtle. He’s self conscious for a brief moment as they linger on the multi-coloured mesh-layered posters he’d taken from various places on Counterweight, including one obviously stolen from the Rethal-Addax Spaceport advertising cheap and easy getaways off-planet. It doesn’t seem as funny now, not when Cass is staring at it with that little hurt wrinkle between their eyes.  
  
“Something up, Cass?” He deliberately keeps his tone light and airy.  
  
Cass turns to look at him, finally, their expression carefully blank.  
  
“You’re sleeping with Paisley.”  
  
Mako blinks at them for a second.  
  
“…That obvious, huh?”  
  
That gets him a small smile. It’s fleeting on their tired face, but Mako feels a glow of delight at being able to pull it out of them, however briefly.  
  
“Just a little bit.”  
  
“It doesn’t affect anything, dude, don’t even worry.”  
  
They sigh wearily and sit down next to Mako on the bed. He raises an eyebrow at them, surprised they’re being so casual.  
  
“Just…” Cass looks down at the floor for a moment and seems to deflate, before looking up to meet Mako’s curious gaze. “Just look after yourself, alright? I’m here if you need to talk.”  
  
Mako rolls his eyes and flops backwards to stare at the ceiling, trying to ignore how such a simple statement gives him a warm, pleased feeling right down to his bones.  
  
“Sure, Cass. Whatever you say.”  
  


* * *

  
Paisley’s too busy, or just not good at keeping up with personal messages, Mako assumes, until he walks in on Aria chatting and laughing with him on a vidcall in the kitchen one day.  
  
Mako turns around and walks right back out. It doesn’t stop him sending message after message, and hoarding the ever briefer replies he gets back.  
  


* * *

  
There’s never much hanging around after they sleep together, no post-coital cuddling, but Mako hesitates as he’s pulling his shirt (neon yellow, pink stripes) back over his head.  
  
“We’re, uh. AuDy says that we might be getting more steady work from some guy soon, they have to pay off a debt to him or something.”

Paisley turns to look at him, raises an eyebrow with an unspoken _so?_  
  
Mako clears his throat awkwardly.

“Just…we might not be around so much. For a while.”

Paisley grins, and walks over to tilt Mako’s head up with a hand on his chin. His heart stutters a bit as Paisley drops a kiss on his forehead, gentle. It’s much more…romantic, almost, than he’s used to at this point.  
  
“Don’t worry, Mako. I’ll still be here. I promise.”  
  


* * *

  
Years later, Mako walks into a hotel lobby and sees Aria standing over Paisley’s dead body, tears in her eyes and shaking.  
  
“Mako— He wasn’t— I didn’t—” She only manages to choke a few words out, wide-eyed, before she looks down, hair falling across her face.  
  
When she speaks again, still not looking at him, her voice is harder.  
  
“It needed to be done.”  
  
Mako wonders, in a vaguely detached way, how much Righteousness has gotten to her by now.  
  
He misses the old Aria, suddenly and violently, the way she’d hum tunes to herself absentmindedly, the passion in her voice when she talked about Weight. He wonders when the last time she danced was. He hopes Jacqui is okay. He hopes they’re happy.  
  
He walks forward, pushes her out of the way - wasn’t he carrying something? His arms are empty now - and sees what remains of Paisley Moon.  
  
There’s blood pooling on the floor, but it doesn’t look right, it’s not thick like blood usually is. It’s running over the tiles like water and Mako can feel the nausea rising.  
  
He still hasn’t been able to actually look at Paisley’s face.  
  
When he finally drags his eyes up, it’s the fact that he can recognise Paisley so easily that’s the worst. If he was unrecognisable, Mako feels like this would be easier, but everything is familiar - the curve of his cheeks, the slant of his nose, the shape of his lips.  
  
There’s a yawning emptiness in his stomach, now, replacing the sickness and the grief with nothingness.  
  
And then there’s the tapping of heels and Mako looks up to see Aria’s back, her shoulders high as she walks away from him, again.  
  
Ibex approved of her succeeding him, Mako remembers, and for a moment that lasts longer than he wants to admit, he hates her.  
  


* * *

  
Mako finishes up with Orth, because he has to.  
  
Orth barely seems to notice something’s wrong, and Mako doesn’t say anything either. Let him hear from the mesh about the mysterious death that took place, let him put together the pieces by himself before sending Mako polite, concerned messages that he’ll delete without opening.  
  
Mako goes back to an anonymous room in a Rapid Evening base, alone. It’s clean and white and far too big, everything that the Kingdom Come never was, and god, he hasn’t felt this homesick for years.  
  
He ends up tucking himself into a corner between the bed and the wall, just to feel less exposed, to have the solid weight of the wall propping him up as he shakes.

Mako had thought he'd already done his mourning for Paisley, but seeing the body...the blood...

The nausea rises again and he clenches his eyes more tightly closed, until it hurts.  
  
AuDy's gone now, but maybe— maybe Cass won’t be too busy. Maybe they’ll have time for him for once.  
  
He brings up the mesh, hovers his hand over the call icon for a moment. Holographic light dances through his fingers as they tremble before he commits to it, listening to the dial tone buzz in his ears.  
  
Thirty seconds. A minute. Three minutes.  
  
They never answer.

**Author's Note:**

> i can't believe my first ever explicit fic involved paisley moon. dang.
> 
> as always, find me on twitter @sokratesnikon


End file.
